“Okay. Best I drag it out from the subconscious then.”
They moved out to the busy street and into the café, where they found a quiet table. Jack decided he needed an egg and bacon roll. Cath was happy with a small muffin.
“This thing in the sky,” Jack said, “something I read recently referred to it as new earth or a new asteroid. Do you understand these things?”
“Sort of. I spoke to Dad last night. He’s currently in town for work. They’re referring to the thing in the sky as Adventus—that’s the informal name it’s picked up from somewhere. Objects are usually named for the discoverer, but there is a cloud of mystery surrounding that, and Dad is sure it will be referred to as Adventus for a while as it takes months to formalise names.”
“Interesting name.”
“Dad likes the name—it’s a Latin word, meaning coming or arrival or even invasion—the science fiction geeks will love that. That’s probably where the name came from. Then social media grabbed hold of it.”
More conspiracy stuff.
The server placed his egg and bacon roll on the table. “Enjoy.”
“Thanks. I’m sure I will.”
Cath continued. “It’s an asteroid, and the amount of light it’s reflecting has Dad thinking it’s massive. Larger than any other discovered asteroid. More like the size of a planet. I think that’s one of the main differences between asteroids, comets, and planets: their size. Apparently, the organisations involved with such discoveries are running around like chooks with their heads chopped off.”
“Encouraging.” He took a bite of the roll and followed up with a sip of his coffee. “One would think they would’ve discovered this sooner with all those space telescopes they have. And it makes sense that big things would be discovered before little things. That’s my very scientific summary but then I doubt they could monitor everything.”
Cath smiled. “That’s what concerns Dad. If it’s so big, why wasn’t it discovered earlier, before we could see it with the naked eye? That’s why he believes it’s supernatural—because it’s has appeared out of nowhere. He did throw in a caution and said something about a wormhole, which brings me to the new earth part.”
Jack’s phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the screen. Tim from forensics. He needed to answer this call.
“Jack here.”
“Jack, I found something interesting. Could you drop by?”
“Just so happens we were heading your way. Be there in ten minutes.”
“Looks like the wormhole and the new earth will have to wait. Off to forensics we go.” He took another bite of the roll.
“Slow down and let your food digest.”
“Thanks, Mum.”
There was silence as they both finished their snacks, then they stood and headed off.
“How big is big?” Jack asked, as they found their way out into the street. Cath appeared pleased that he wanted to know more.
“It’s slightly larger than the moon. The moon is a bit bigger than a quarter of the Earth. Dad says it like this—the face of the moon is nearly as wide as Australia.”
“Still can’t comprehend what big is.”
“Okay, let me shock you. Scientists talk in timescales of millions of years, which is irrelevant to us. For example, they say the asteroid responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs millions of years ago was roughly ten kilometres across.”
They walked into the office complex and stopped at the elevator bay. Jack looked at Cath. “How big did you say our visitor was?’
“No one knows for sure, but Dad thinks it’s well over three thousand kilometres across.”
“And the dinosaur destroyer was ten kilometres. Wow! That makes our new visitor massive.” He pressed the down button. “And it gives me a feeling of complete vulnerability, like we’re just a speck in a vast universe.”
“That’s all we are, just a little speck. But we make ourselves to be more than that. Masters of our own universe. Like gods.”
Jack sensed some frustration with her last words.
The elevator gave its arrival call. The doors opened. Empty.
They strolled in, and Cath pressed the button for the forensics floor.
“Just as well it’s only passing by.”
Cath smiled. “Let’s hope so, or we will all be smashed to smithereens.”
He hadn’t heard that word in a long time. “Interesting word choice.”
“My dad is Irish.”
“He’s a big man for a leprechaun.” That comment got the look it deserved. He thought it was funny and did notice a slight upper movement with Cath’s smiling muscles.
The arrival ding sounded.
“Now, let’s find Tim.” Jack walked out of the elevator and headed towards the door labelled Forensic Services Group. “And my interest in the glasses. I think there’s a connection to Sally Ann’s poisoning, but I’ve no idea what it is.”
Jack stretched disposable gloves across his fingers as he stared at the dark glasses enclosed in the plastic zip bag on the table. Hands covered, he moved the bag to a different angle. The glasses looked the same as those the orange man wore. They had a strange coloured tinting, an unnatural colour. Was there such a thing as an unnatural colour? It was a blue-black colour, and some would say black wasn’t a colour. He was all over the place with his thoughts. Could have something to do with large asteroids.
“I find the tinting of the glasses very strange,” Jack said.
